Dragonball Z: The Kakarot SagaEpisode 1
by gajdowski98
Summary: Watch in awe the man named, Kakarot.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue:**

He was the most powerful warrior in the universe.

A saiyan by birth, he was born with an incredible fighting power. This power frightened Lord Frieza, the prince of the Cold Empire, into destroying the home world of the saiyans, Planet Vegeta. But his incredible Super Saiyan power protected him from the fiery apocalypse. He traveled throughout space defeating all who stood before him. Wherever he went he left a trail of destroyed civilizations and broken planets. He faced down Frieza and beat him to bloody pulp. Then he drank to his victory with his enemy's blood poured from his skull.

He killed the only other survivors of the destruction of Vegeta, including Prince Vegeta, with ridiculous ease. He defeated and broke each despot and ruler of the Cold Empire until he faced down Lord Coola and King Cold themselves. By now his power was such that his aura burned Coola to a crackling crisp without the super saiyan lifting a finger. He then removed King Cold's heart with one small punch and made the evil despot eat it. But if Cold was a despot, the super saiyan was evil incarnate. He grew in power until he ascended beyond super saiyan. He was now able to destroy planets with only one large blast fired from one hand.

A foolish old alien wizard named Babidi tried to create a super demon to fight this saiyan abomination but it was to no avail. He simply ascended beyond ascended super saiyan and defeated the demon named Majin Buu.

In the end this monster sat on mountain of burned corpses, in a castle of bones, on a throne of blood, the undisputed king of the galaxy. Trillions had died screaming his name.

His name was Kakarot.

**Episode 1: The Death of Goku**

Goku woke up with a gasp and sat bolt upright in bed. He began to shiver as sensation returned and he realized that he was drenched in sweat from his feet all the way up to his face and unruly spiky black hair. He was also breathing like he'd just gone a few rounds with Cell, Majin Buu, and kid Buu. He was shaking uncontrollably, trying to get his sense of reality back. He looked around wildly, expecting to see the bloody throne beneath him and the castle of grisly humanoid remains around him, but as his eyes adjusted to the dark he realized that he was in his room at home.

He tuned over and saw the sleeping figure of Chi-Chi lying next to him. With both Gojen and Gohan out of the house and Goten at the point where he no longer needed a glass of water or his mommy at two in the morning, Goku and Chi-Chi were able to enjoy married life to the fullest again. But that was the last thing on Goku's mind. As reality cemented itself around him, Goku got up and went into the bathroom. He toweled himself off, then got himself a big glass of milk and a few cookies (meaning about two gallons of milk and two dozen cookies) and came back up to bed. After settling back under the covers, he wrapped his arms protectively around his wife and tried to go back to bed. But sleep did not come so easily now.

At the breakfast table Goku was quiet and ate with a lot less of his usual gusto. Chi-Chi could hardly believe that this was her husband. He usually was finished by now but he was barely through his third bowl of cereal. She knew something had to be terribly wrong with her Goku. He always, ALWAYS packed away enough at breakfast to feed 10 people and would still want to have a snack an hour later! _He must be sick! Oh no! My poor Goku is sick! I should check his temperature._

Chi-Chi moved over to try and put her hand on Goku's forehead.

"Honey? Are you feeling okay?" she asked as she put her hand on her forehead. At the touch he shot to his feet so fast it was like the Tokyo Bullet Train.

"I'm going out," he said tersely. Chi-Chi just blinked. She had NEVER heard Goku talk like this before. He was ALWAYS happy at mealtime.

"When… when will you be back?" was all she could ask.

"I don't know," he said softly. Goku then put two fingers to his forehead and after a moment popped out of existence.

Breakfast time in the Briefs household was always a noisy, messy and, just for a change, more noisy affair, especially on Saturday mornings. Bulma was trying to cook pancakes and bacon while Trunks and her husband the 'eminent' Prince Vegeta (prince of all saiyans, yadda yadda yadda) argued across their cereal bowls.

"It is physically impossible for someone of your age to ascend beyond super saiyan, so stop bothering me about it boy!" said Vegeta between mouthfuls of Cheerios. When asked, Vegeta said that Cheerios reminded him of space gruel.

"Oh yeah? Then how come a 'boy of my age and physique' became super saiyan when he was 8 huh papa?" asked Trunks, shoveling in spoonfuls of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs.

Vegeta simply grunted at this and continued eating. Trunks snickered but before he could realize what he'd done his father beat him to the punch.

"You think you can get one up on your old man? Well then you'll just have to put your training where your mouth is won't you boy?"

Trunks gulped knowing that was 'Vegeta-speak' for Your Butt In The Gravity Room As Of Two Seconds Ago. Before Vegeta could take a celebratory pull of O.J., a certain saiyan we all know and love Transmitted right on top of Vegeta's Cheerios. Vegeta's bellow could be heard in broadest West City.

"KAKAROT!"

"Hey Vegeta, what's up?" asked Goku wearily. Something about the way Goku was acting caused Vegeta to pause before he replied.

"Not well considering I won't be able to finish my breakfast you third-class imbecile. What do you want?"

"I need to talk to you. Alone." Said Goku simply. Vegeta was taken aback by this sudden lack of cheer. What happened to the stupid, insipid Kakarot that had beaten him so many times? Vegeta was actually beginning to become worried with this.

"Very well," he said and stood up from the table. With Trunks and Bulma looking perplexed, the two saiyans Transmitted out of the room.

_What was al that about?_, thought Bulma. She also had never seen Goku less than cheery except when there were bad guys to be fought. And then she wondered, _is he upset that we forgot his birthday?_

Goku and Vegeta materialized in a shaded glen out in the middle of nowhere. Goku's children Gojen and Gohan were already there. Vegeta immediately removed his hand from where it had been resting on Goku's shoulder.

"Alright Kakarot, what is this all about. I'd like to get back to my breakfast," said the impatient saiyan prince. Instead of answering immediately, Goku turned his back to them and walked over to a spot on the slope where he could look out on the forest. Vegeta was becoming more annoyed by the moment and he was about to yell something at our favorite saiyan when Gojen and Gohan both put their hands on his shoulders and both silently shook their heads. Goku then turned and faced them.

"I have something I need to tell you," he said simply.

So he laid out the whole sad story for them. The dreams, and what he did in them and everything. The three other saiyans stayed stone silent throughout the whole story and a heavy silence descended on the group when Goku was done. After a pregnant pause, Goku turned to Vegeta.

"What do you think this means Vegeta?" asked Goku, a small note of pleading entering his voice,

Vegeta paused for a moment, thinking deeply.

"How long have you had these dreams Kakarot?" asked Vegeta finally.

"A couple of weeks, why?"

Vegeta offered no more answers but started string at nearby bush as if it could provide all the answers.

"Do you think that this might be your original saiyan personality trying to reassert itself dad?" asked Gohan. The question prompted the other three saiyans to snap their heads in the direction of Gohan.

"What do you mean boy?" snapped Vegeta. Gohan looked decidedly uncomfortable with all three of them staring at him.

"Well I took a psychology course in college and some of the things dad said sounded like the stuff I studied."

"Do you think that might be it Vegeta?" asked Gojen, speaking up for the first time. Vegeta's gaze flicked back and forth between the Son family members.

"You told me Kakarot that when you came to Earth you fell down a ravine and banged your head on a rock, correct?" asked Vegeta. Goku nodded in response.

"And that's why you became the bumbling half-wit we all know and love today?" he asked again. Goku nodded once more, that child-like look of completely focused attention still on his face. Vegeta considered his next words very carefully.

"While I've never heard of life-time amnesia, but I would guess that it might be your natural saiyan instincts kicking in after all these years, but if you want a REAL opinion go see one of those 'shrinks' or whatever you earthlings call them. Back on Planet Vegeta, if saiyans had these sorts of problems, they were usually killed."

"Oh, then let's all be glad we don't live on Vegeta huh?" said Gojen sarcastically. Vegeta smirked and then said: "You can sit here and play psychoanalyst all you want but I have a breakfast to get back to." And without further ado Vegeta blasted off towards Capsule Corp. in a swirl of blue-white energy.

"Thanks for all the help Vegeta!" yelled Gojen sarcastically after the saiyan prince, then turned back to her father and brother, "Have you told mom about these dreams dad?" Goku shook his head.

"I'm afraid she'd get all worked up and take me to the doctor's and they'd give me a shot." Goku finished lamely. Gojen and Gohan did a double take.

"Dad, they don't give you shots for getting your head examined!" groaned Gohan. _Dad can be so child-like sometimes,_he thought.

"Really dad, you probably ought to tell mom about what's going on," added Gojen, equally annoyed with her father. Goku sighed heavily and stood up.

"I'll think about it. See you later," he said as he flew off. Gojen and Gohan watched him fly off for a few seconds then Gojen turned to her brother.

"Wow. He must be worried about this because I think that even HE'S forgot about his birthday." No one knew the Earth date of Goku's birthday. Old grandpa Gohan had chosen to celebrate the day he found Goku instead.

"Yeah. But that'll make it even better when we surprise him tonight won't it? Are all the arrangements in place?"

"Yeah, Bulma's got everything set up. Vegeta's still a little miffed about having to do it at his place but he can't really do anything about it now, can he?" said Gojen. Gohan nodded and then they both flew off back to their respective houses to prepare for Goku's surprise party.

In fact Goku was so worried about his nightmares that he had forgot about his birthday entirely. Of course Chi-Chi didn't remind him, because of the surprise party, but she was almost as worried as Goku was. Eventually evening descended on the Son household. Goku was enjoying a cup (meaning a gallon) of hot chocolate when he suddenly felt a strange energy coursing through the city. He leapt to his feet and was about to phase out, when Gojen and Goten transmitted into the room.

"DAD!" cried Goten, "You gotta come quickly! It's bad, real bad!"

"Whoa slow down Goten. Gojen what's going on?"

"I don't know but we'd better hurry. This is gonna take all of our combined powers to stop this thing!"

"But what the heck is going on?" demanded an increasingly frazzled Goku.

"No time to explain! Come on!" said Gojen as he grabbed Goku's hand and transmitted out of the house.

They found themselves in a completely dark room. Goku couldn't see an inch in front of his face because of the penetrating darkness. He felt a swirl of air as Gojen and Goten ran off. Goku stumbled over some object lying in the room and cursed. He couldn't feel the strange energy anymore and he began to wonder just what the heck was going on.

"Come on you guys this isn't funny! What happened? Where are you? Why can't I feel that ener…" But he was cut off as light flared up in the room, instantly blinding him. He quickly formed a ball of energy in his hand and was about to throw it when the people hidden behind the blinding spotlight burst into song.

"**HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY GOKU-SAN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!"**

"One year closer till death!" giggled the kids. Goku couldn't believe his eyes. As the lights came down he realized how many people were at this surprise party. There was old android #8 and the Indians he had befriended, the Tenkaichi Budokai announcer man (I still don't know his name! thought Goku.), and others as well. Even the irascible Vegeta was leaning against a wall. To the immense embarrassment of Goten and his buddies, Goku's eyes began to water up.

"Thanks a lot you guys. Even I'd forgotten my birthday. This is the best present ever!" and with that, Goku embraced the closest person, who happened to be Goten, in a fierce bear hug.

"Dad!" wailed the 8 year old, "Not in front of Trunks and the guys!" Goku immediately released him.

"Check out your birthday cake!" said Gojen, gesturing towards the back of the room. Goku looked and almost fell over from shock. There, amidst a feast big enough for a king and his court, was the cake. It was layered and colored in orange and blue icing. The base layer alone was 5 feet in diameter. Goku's mouth began to gush a river looking at the exquisite cake. On the very top layer, between a circle of candles, was a large number 39. (Although physically he was 32 due to various deaths and time spent in the Room of Spirit and Time) Goku's mouth began to water obscenely. Gohan reached over and clamped his mouth shut.

"Let's get to the food, because if we don't, Dad won't pay attention to anything else," whispered Gohan to his mother. They both heartily agreed.

Feeding eight very hungry saiyans was no mean feat, but thanks to Chi-Chi everyone else had just enough food as well. Then there was the cutting of the cake, where the eight aforementioned saiyan still had enough room inside their stomachs to eat half the cake. By this time the adults were settling down, however the kids had eaten and drank so much sugar that they were, in so many words, on a super saiyan sugar high. It was well into the night by the time they finally got to the presents. Goku had gotten so many this year that he couldn't keep track of them. Gojen gave him a signed photo of Bruce Lee (the only RESPECTABLE human martial artist, besides Krillin and the guys, said Goku), Chi-Chi gave him a real suit, and Krillin gave him a tape of himself singing Goku's favorite song. Goku privately promised to never listen to it.

They played music when it got late and the boys (who were still on a tremendous sugar high) took it upon themselves to start "dancing." Unfortunately their version of dancing involved the destruction of several valuable Briefs family keepsakes, so Bulma dragged the lot of them upstairs to play videogames on Trunks' Playtendo. At long last, this domestic house party came to an end. The saiyans helped clean up with lightning fast speed, and everyone began to say their goodbyes. Krillin and 18 practically had to drag Marron away from the Playtendo, but were soon on their way. Goku and his family were the last to leave because every departing guest had wished Goku Happy Birthday at least a dozen times. At last they left Capsule Corp. and headed back to their house in the mountains with Gohan, Gojen and Videl had left for their apartments.

After finally getting Goten settled down in bed, Goku and Chi-Chi also settled down for the night. When sleep finally claimed the mighty saiyan warrior, he was so happy he had forgotten all about his bad dreams.

He was the most powerful warrior in the universe.

A saiyan by birth, he was born with an incredible fighting power. This power frightened Lord Frieza, the prince of the Cold Empire, into destroying the home world of the saiyans, Planet Vegeta. But his incredible Super Saiyan power protected him from the fiery apocalypse. He traveled throughout space defeating all who stood before him. Wherever he went he left a trail of destroyed civilizations and broken planets. He faced down Frieza and beat him to bloody pulp. Then he drank to his victory with his enemy's blood poured from his skull.

He killed the only other survivors of the destruction of Vegeta, including Prince Vegeta, with ridiculous ease. He defeated and broke each despot and ruler of the Cold Empire until he faced down Lord Coola and King Cold themselves. By now his power was such that his aura burned Coola to a crackling crisp without the super saiyan lifting a finger. He then removed King Cold's heart with one small punch and made the evil despot eat it. But if Cold was a despot, the super saiyan was evil incarnate. He grew in power until he ascended beyond super saiyan. He was now able to destroy planets with only one large blast fired from one hand.

Goku tossed and turned in his sleep, the dream even more real than it had been last night. But the dream changed. Kakarot was on Earth. Earth's defenders, the Z warriors, tried to stop him, but he crushed them with pathetic ease. Gohan, the last remaining saiyan besides Kakarot, tried to fight him but the all-powerful warrior merely vaporized him with a single blast of energy. Goku moaned as his adopted son's dying screams echoed, so life-like, in his ears. The resistance on this pathetic planet was so minimal that Kakarot simply burned away the surface without breaking a sweat. The last human to die was Chi-Chi, her screams as the flesh and muscle was burned away from her bones so unbearable that…

Goku flew off the bed and into a standing position this time. The cold, clammy sweat was dripping off him and he felt like he had just thrown up. The dream had been so real… almost as if it had been memory. But no, it couldn't have been. Goku walked into the bathroom and splashed some warm water against his damp skin. As he used the mirror to towel off his face, he noticed something strange. The face in the mirror was LEERING at him, almost liked Vegeta used to look back when he had first arrived on Earth. Goku reached up a hand to touch his own face. The image in the mirror didn't move a muscle. He touched two fingers to his mouth and found that it was hanging open slightly from shock. He stopped to think for a moment. How could his face look like that in the mirror when he wasn't making that expression? While he was still pondering this, the face in the mirror spoke, it's voice not coming from the mirror, but still sounding as if the speaker was right in front of Goku.

"Did you really think you could keep me down forever Goku?" asked the face, pronouncing Goku's name as if he was sucking on a lemon at the same time.

It's voice sounded exactly like Goku's, but harder and colder. It also sounded like Vegeta had when he first came to Earth.

"Who… who are you?" asked Goku, leaning closer to the mirror.

"Who am I?" smirked the figure, "I am the part of you that you've lost. The part of you who yearns for battle every single day. The part of you who wants to KILL every opponent whom you face, in short my educationally challenged friend… I am your saiyan personality that you left behind that day you fell on the rocks.

_Old man Gohan struggled to get the boy to walk up the path with him. It was at times like these that he began to wonder why he had taken in this dangerous violent boy. Suddenly the boy twisted around and broke out of Gohan's grasp. Gohan reached to grab him, but the boy leapt backwards. He failed to notice how close the cliff ledge was and he went tumbling down the side of the ravine. Gohan could only watch in horror as the boy he had named Goku fell down until he cracked his head on a rock at the bottom._

"You remember don't you?" asked the sneering image in the mirror. Goku finally collected his wits enough to respond to this image in the mirror.

"I don't believe you! If you were really my saiyan personality then why haven't you tried this before?"

"I would've tried this years ago if I could've. I festered in the darkest reaches of your unconscious for years, watching through your eyes. I saw how that oaf King Kai trained you. I saw the grueling training you put yourself through on your way to Namek. I saw that you had become a super saiyan. It was then that I realized that your, OUR power would keep growing and growing. Eventually you passed beyond even ascended super saiyan, and it was then that I realized that I needed to make my move. For two years I've been 'gathering my strength' if you will for this moment."

"What are you going to do?" asked Goku slightly nervously. The face smirked back at him.

"I'm your original personality Goku. And I want my body back," said the face as cold trickles slithered down Goku's spine, "I thank you for taking such good care of it. Now I'll be able to rebuild the Saiyan Empire, with ME at its head."

Remembering the dreams Goku backed away from the mirror, taking a fighting stance.

"I will not let you do those things I saw in my dreams!" snarled Goku. The figure in the mirror, which had moved back with him, laughed out loud. The high, cold laugh made Goku's skin crawl.

"You fool! I certainly don't intend to do those exact things," he said with mocking condescension, "But I do intend to take over this galaxy. You have given me the power to do this. Don't you understand?" Goku just stared back at his reflection. The reflection laughed again.

"I'VE been giving you these dreams. They were a way of weakening your mental barriers so that I could return and take my body back. Goodbye Goku. Don't worry; I'll take care of your family. If they obey me, they'll live. If not, I'll kill them."

Goku was about to shout back when a blinding pain, like a hot iron pike, drove into his skull with the force of a buffalo stampede. Goku fell to his knees as Kakarot's mental laughter rang in his head. Blinded by the pain, Goku stumbled down the stairs into the kitchen with all the grace of a drunkard. Stumbling outside, Goku realized two things through the excruciating pain; that Kakarot would do everything he could to take over the galaxy and cause a lot of death and that Goku had to stop him… at any cost. With a tortured yell Goku transformed into super saiyan, his aura flashing around him brighter and brighter.

"What are you doing fool?" asked his own voice. Goku realized with horror that it had been Kakarot using his voice. Through the pain Goku shouted back, "I will not let you hurt or kill anyone! If I have too, I'll kill myself to stop you!" Goku felt a lurch of fear that was quite unrelated with his own emotions.

"Not if I take over your mind first, you weakling!" said his own voice again. Goku just cried out and transformed into super saiyan 2.

"What are you doing?" he shouted again. Goku grimaced painfully.

"A little trick Vegeta tried to use to defeat Majin Buu."

Without warning, Goku's left hand whipped around and grasped him by the throat. Goku reached up with his right hand and tried to pry the offending appendage away. The combination of the pain, trying to power up the attack, and his own hand trying to strangle him, was putting major stress on the mighty saiyan warrior. It was all he could do to power up the attack. With a tortuous scream he powered all the way up to super saiyan 3. His aura grew wide and then began to coalesce around him in a sphere, tighter and tighter. Goku felt a wave of sorrow that his wife and his son would be caught in the blast, but he could not help it, he was concentrating to much to do anything but continue to power up. Besides there was always the Dragonballs.

"The Dragonballs won't save you this time!" Kakarot snarled, as the energy grew into a ball that completely covered them, glowing as bright as the sun. As the energy bomb prepared to detonate, Goku heard the faint calling of his wife and son.

"Time's up," he murmured.

NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" screamed Kakarot.

A flash of insight jerked Gojen, Gohan, Vegeta, Krillin, and a half dozen others from sleep. Gojen ran out on to the back porch of her apartment staring into the sky. She felt rather than saw the tremendous amount of energy building up. Before she could do anything however, the energy ball detonated.

The force of the blast blew Goku's house out of existence, vaporizing it in the blink of an eye, along with Goten and Chi-Chi. The concussive force of the blast blew out a crater half a mile wide. The explosion could be heard for ten miles in every. A gigantic pall of smoke and ash hung over the crater. Into this scene of carnage, the Son siblings arrived. They looked around in horror at the destruction around. They began to shout for Goku, Chi-Chi, or Goten but received no answer. As the smoke cloud cleared, Gohan noticed something flapping at the bottom of the crater. He leapt off the lip and floated down to the bottom, his boots hissing as they touched the hot rock. He bent down and picked up the scrap of orange fabric. It was a piece of Goku's orange nightshirt. A single tear slid down Gohan's face and dropped to the ground where it quickly fizzled out into nothingness. Holding the scrap of fabric to his chest, he turned to his sister.

"What happened here?"


	2. Chapter 2

"What happened here?" Gohan asked. He looked around the crater again, two small tears glinting in the corners of his eyes. He looked down at the scrap of burnt cloth in his hand. Had Goku's nightmares begun to be so bad that he had… had committed SUICIDE? Gohan groaned and tossed the scrap back to the ground. They should've paid more attention, they should've gotten him professional help, should've listened more carefully to him…

Gohan's thoughts were interrupted when he heard shouting behind him. He turned and saw the other Z Warriors and his family flying towards the crater that had once been Goku's house. Even Piccolo was flying with them. They landed a little off to the left of the Son siblings, disbelief etched into their features.

"No way! What… what happened here?" asked Krillin, tears also in his eyes. Everyone turned to the brother and sister, silently waiting for them to say something.

"Gojen, Gohan. What happened here? Where's Goku, Chi-Chi, and Goten?" asked Piccolo solemnly

"They're gone," Gojen muttered dully.

"Gone? Whatta ya mean gone?" shouted Krillin.

"He means what he said," growled Piccolo, "Use your senses. Can you feel them anywhere?" Piccolo turned to Gohan.

"Do you have any idea about how this happened?" he asked. Floating away from the crater, Gojen, Gohan and Vegeta related what Goku had told them the previous day concerning the nightmare of the past two weeks.

"And you didn't tell him to go see a doctor?" cried Yamcha.

"He was afraid they'd make him get a shot if he went to a doctor," groaned Gohan. Everyone face-faulted, except for Vegeta who just rolled his eyes at Goku's childishness.

"It wouldn't have mattered anyway as we were the first ones he told about it," said Gojen, "If only he'd told us earlier…"

After a few moments of silence, Piccolo decided that enough was enough.

"All right well are we just can stand here crying or are we gonna go get the Dragon Balls and fix this mess?"

The gathered warriors took off again, headed for Capsule Corporation to get Bulma's Dragon Radar.

-DBZ-

Thanks to the combination of the Dragon Radars and speedy searching, the Dragon Balls were gathered within 24 hours. By now everyone who knew Goku among his immediate friends had gathered near the crater that had been his home.

The Dragon Balls lay on the ground in a cluster, glowing and humming. Gojen stepped before them and shouted, "Come forth Shenlong!"

The ball flashed and the night sky began to darken, the stars disappearing, being replaced with black clouds. A column of golden light exploded upwards from the glowing Dragon Balls, twisting and snaking into the air and then burst forth in a bright flash of light with a sound like a hurricane. When the light cleared, the sinuous snake-like form of Shenlong, the Eternal Dragon hung over the assembled warriors.

"You who have gathered the seven Dragon Balls. I shall grant thee any two wishes that thou desire," boomed Shenlong in a voice that shook the ground. Gohan stepped forward and addressed the dragon.

"Shenlong we wish for the damage done to Goku's home and the surrounding area be restored to what they were."

"As you wish," growled the dragon, its blood red eyes glowing. There was a flash of light and the crater was replaced by forest and the little house that Goku had built when he and Chichi had gotten married so many years ago.

"What is thy second wish?" asked Shenlong.

"We wish that Goku, Chi-Chi and Goten be brought back to life here on this spot," said Gohan. The dragon growled for a moment and then spoke, "The one called Goku is not dead but I will return the other two to life."

This little announcement caused a ripple of shock to go through the assembled Z Warriors. Goku wasn't dead? So where was he then?

A flash of light in front of them heralded the arrival of Chi-Chi and Goten. Both looked stunned and when Chi-Chi saw where she was and that the dragon was floating over them they both burst into tears. Gohan and Gojen ran forward to help them up as the dragon spoke for the final time.

"Thy wishes have been granted. I now bid thee farewell." There was a tremendous flash of light and the dragon vanished. The Dragon Balls rose up into the sky and then shot apart, scattering to the four corners of the earth once more, not to be used again for another year.

Chi-Chi and Goten related events as they remembered, but they had both been asleep, so the only things they remembered had been the rumbling that had awoken them and then seeing Goku outside powering up and then oblivion.

"I don't get it. If the dragon said that Goku wasn't dead, then where'd he go?" asked Krillin.

"I know someone who can help us find him faster than anyone," said Gojen.

-DBZ-

Gojen got into mental contact with King Kai through Piccolo and told him about the situation. A few minutes later, King Kai informed them that he had brought Baba the Fortuneteller to his residence on the Grand Kai's planet and that she was using her crystal ball to locate Goku. Unfortunately all that Baba could see was an image of Goku hovering in darkness.

"Is that it?" asked Gojen.

"Yes that's it. What were you expecting? A precisely drawn map? The crystal ball doesn't work like that. If you mortals were handed everything on a silver platter, then you would never grow, never evolve, never achieve…"

Gojen growled cutting of Baba in her speech.

"Basically this means he's somewhere in the galaxy, some place very dark or evil or something like that right?"

"Perhaps," said King Kai, "But what is obvious isn't always the right answer."

Gohan, who'd been listening in, sighed mightily.

"Thanks for the help but I don't see…" Gohan suddenly jerked then slapped himself with enough force to knock over a stone column. "I am such an IDIOT! The Namekian Dragon Balls! Why didn't I think of that before? Thanks again guys, see you around." And with that, they cut contact.

"That's the problem with youngsters this millennium," grumbled Baba, "Always on the move."

-DBZ-

Gohan next mentally contacted Dende through Piccolo and Dende, being a Guardian, called on his fellow Nameks on New Namek. Unfortunately they had bad news as well.

"The Elder is gone? And the Dragon Balls as well? But who? HOW!" asked Gohan, growing increasingly frantic.

Dende had no answers for him so Gohan was forced to depart with the unsettling knowledge that someone, somewhere was using the power of the Dragon Balls, and rarely did that happen for good in a situation like this.

-DBZ-

The fact that someone had taken the Namek Dragon Balls was actually better received than the news that not even the Kais could figure out where Goku had gone.

"All we know is that Dad is somewhere in the Galaxy it seems, some place where it's very dark or very evil or both." Vegeta curled his lip into his famous sneer.

"You've just described roughly half of the planets in the galaxy boy. I don't know about you but searching an entire galaxy will take a very long time. And what if he's in another galaxy all together, ever thought of that?"

"It won't!" piped up Goten, "We don't need to look because wherever daddy is, he's coming home. Right mommy?" Chi-Chi looked at her son with watery eyes.

"Of course honey. He'll be back, I know he will."

Gohan, who was quietly contemplating the infinite off in a corner with Videl spoke up, "We need to search, not just for dad, but for whoever took the Dragon Balls as well. We need to find out who they are, what they want, and what they did or are doing with the them."

"My thoughts exactly," said Gojen, "Bulma, I assume you've got a couple of spaceships we can use?" The beautiful genius inventor grinned.

"You're in luck because dad and I just recently finished refitting a couple of the ships the other day. They've got all new features, upgrades to the rest and they are at least 200% faster than before," she said proudly.

"Two hundred percent?" said Goten, very confused, "How can you have more than one hundred percent?"

"It's settled then," said Gojen, standing up and fixing her friends and family with a fierce stare, "We go. We'll find Dad and the Dragon Balls, and be back home inside of a month!"

How very wrong she was.

-DBZ-

The next day, they had all gathered out in Capsule Corp.'s backyard where two very large, sphere-shaped spaceships awaited. They would be splitting up into two groups. The first group would consist of Gohan, Gojen, Videl, Piccolo, Yamcha and Mr. Satan. Gojen suspected that the reason Hercule Satan was coming along was, not so much that he cared about Goku but that he didn't want his little girl left mostly alone with Gohan for who knew how long. Gojen was not happy about it; she'd never really warmed up to Mr. Satan and now was going to be stuck on a spaceship with him, with Hercule constantly trying to get between Gohan and Videl most likely. She mollified himself with the thought that, if things really got out of hand, Piccolo would probably kill Hercule or at least break his arms and legs.

The second group would consist of Vegeta, Bulma, Krillin, Tien, and Master Roshi. Vegeta was standing off to the side of the other ship, talking to Bulma and looked extraordinarily uncomfortable in his bulky yellow spacesuit. Gojen had no doubt that the Saiyan Prince would get rid of it as soon as possible. And then there was also the possibility that Vegeta and his "comrades" could possibly get violent with each other, but that was a risk that they had to take.

_The things we go through._

As they boarded their ships, Goten and Trunks stood next to Chi-Chi, looking very put out. They had school after all and would've gladly ditched to get the chance to go gallivanting off into space.

Gohan was the last up the ramp. He turned back and waved to his family and to Trunks.

"Don't worry!" he called, "We'll be back soon!" He turned around and strode into the ship, the door closing behind him. Both ships began to hum, the humming getting louder and louder, clouds of smoke and dust rising up from their bases'. With a mighty roar, both ships leapt into the brilliant blue sky and quickly streaked up and out of sight.

On the ground, Chi-Chi watched her children's ship fly up into space with glittering eyes.

_Come back safe little ones, and soon._


End file.
